Church Planting in North America

Watch this video. The statistics presented here are pretty staggering.

Bounded and Centered

This post is a review by Ryan Bolger on Breaking the Missional Code, by Ed Stetzer and David Putnam. In the review he critiques their use of Christian and non-Christian, believing that it implies "that that church is inherently good and unchurched is correspondingly bad." Instead, he believes that a better language might be in order. He prefers the terms "bounded and centered."

Tim Keller gives the following descriptions of bounded and centered sets...

In mathematics, there are two different ways to define a 'set'. One is a 'bounded set'. A point is in the set if it is related properly to (i.e. if it is inside) the boundary. Another is the 'centered set'. A point is in the set if it is related properly to (i.e. if it is in alignment with or moving toward) the center of the set. Organizations that are 'bounded sets' put great emphasis on the lines of demarcation 'around the circle' – at all points. 1) A person cannot work with or be part of the organization in any meaningful sense without the rite of initiation and the adoption of extensive standards which set the person apart. 2) Differences between members and the outside world are emphasized. 3) Membership is defined in terms of common beliefs and policies and folkways that are pretty extensive. Organizations that are centered-sets put more emphasis on central goals and commitments. 1) A person can work with the organization as long as it shares basic goals and is willing to work for them. 2) Differences between members and the outside world are not emphasized. 3) Membership is defined in terms of active participation toward common tasks and goals.

Bolger says it this way: "What matters is not whether we are in or out (churched or unchurched), but instead it is our direction that matters – are we moving closer to the King (or Kingdom) or moving further away?"

He goes on to say:

Why is that important? Well, given our knowledge of history, we see that some churches do not exhibit kingdom aspects -- they do not manifest the fruits of the spirit, nor do they stand for justice in the world. Using Hiebert’s rubric, these churches would be moving away from the center. Conversely, some unchurched people serve the poor (among many other good things) and are moving in God’s direction. Again, we measure what we value, and church, apart from kingdom activities, becomes a club, a lifestyle enclave, a meaningless endeavor. Indeed, the church is dependent on its mission for its very identity. So, kingdom and movement are better markers of faithfulness to the gospel than are churched and unchurched.

My friend Linda Bergquist first explained bounded and centered sets to me about four years ago. I have to admit that at first I really didn't understand what she was talking about. However, as I have been placed by God into cultures that were either apathetic or hostile to the gospel and to church, I have begun to see the importance of this.

Find Your Own Calcutta

Can I share a goal? I never want NCC to feel like a church. I want us to feel like a movement. The church is way too static these days! The church is called to knock down the gates of hell. The church is the vehicle whereby heaven invades hell.

That is why the world resonated with Mother Teresa. She brought heaven to a hell hole. By the way, I love the advice Mother Teresa gave when someone asked them how they could make a difference with their life the way she'd made with hers. Mother Teresa said, "Find Your Own Calcutta."

Missional Families - Bob Roberts

Each person has to determine how they are called to incarnationally live out the Gospel and the principles of the Kingdom in their own context of work, neighborhood, community, nation and world.

Top 10 Ways a Core Group Can Kill a Church

1. Talk about how much you love your church because it's so small and personable.
2. If your church doesn't have a particular ministry, start attending it at another church, rather than starting one where you are.
3. Don't forgive anyone for hurting you or offending you.
4. Instead of telling the pastor about your frustrations, hold out in silence as long as you can, getting angrier and angrier until you can finally leave in one, unforseen blaze of flaming glory.
5. Go to church for what you get out of it.
6. Don't invite anyone.
7. Forget faith ~ that's the pastor's job. Sit back and wait to see what happens, rather than becoming personally invested.
8. Use "prayer" as a conversational piece rather than a spiritual discipline (as in: "I'll be praying for you," or "Let me pray about that.")
9. Do frequent "polling" in hallway conversations to see if other people have the same concerns about the church as you.
10. Meditate on how wonderful the church would be if it weren't for the pastor.

The New Discipleship: Converted to a Cause before Christ

I like the term "missional community" because I think it contains two very important elements for people. People want to belong, and as this guy says, they want to belong before they believe. The other key, though, is that people want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. This is where mission comes in. The mission of God is the biggest thing that we could ever involve ourselves in. This writer believes that the mission, or, another way of stating it, the "getting involved", is more important to a lot of people than community (belonging).

"I would submit that it is mission that provides the motion from which community is created... In this scenario, community isn't the key for reaching the lost, but CAUSE is the key."

Howard Snyder on Missional Church

Howard Snyder in Decoding the Church writes of missional church in chapter 3. The missional church is genetically missional, an alternative community, a covenant community, and Trinitarian.

Genetically Missional

The church is genetically missional because it is the community of Jesus Christ, God’s great missionary. It is the body of Christ, the community called into existence by the mission of God. this is the starting point for all ecclesiology… Mission is the church’s DNA, even if mission often gets suppressed in practice.

An Alternative Community

A missional church is an alternative community called to build its own culture, economy, and lifestyle in the world and among all peoples. A faithful fchurch is a visible alternative to both neopagan society and to ecclesial models of Christendom that clash with the church’s basic DNA… The church is an alternative community when its mission is the kingdom of God. Its mission makes it countercultural. ANd it is an alternative reality when it exists as a covenant community.

A Covenant Community

A mssional church is covenantal. The church is the covenanted community of God’s reign. The covenant calls the church to ministry and mission, to “equip [God’s people] for the work of ministry (Eph 4:12) and to structure its life and mission accordingly.

A Trinitarian Community

A missional church is Trinitarian. The Trinity teaches us about ecclesiology and mission. Because the church is Trinitarian — based on what God the Father has done and will do through Christ by the power of the Spirit — the church is at the same time incarnational and eschatological.

Read the rest of this post here.

Review of The Forgotten Ways

A couple of months ago now I started reading Alan Hirsch's latest book, The Forgotten Ways. Along with Michael Frost, he wrote The Shaping of Things to Come, one of the most important books in the area of the church and missiology that many of us have ever read. Not only can they write good books together but they can write solo as well. Michael Frost's book Exiles came out last year and Alan Hirsch's book, The Forgotten Ways showed up in my mailbox in early 2007. For the last two months every free moment has been spent with the book or thinking about the consequences of what has been written. It's a book that I will read more than once but here are some early thoughts that will do the book justice.

The book is divided into two sections. Section One is “The Making of a Missionary.” Hirsch tells his own story. It is a path that many of us would recognize that starts with him in the "come to us" attractional model of doing church that has defined evangelicalism since it became part of the establishment to moving towards a missional incarnation. Section Two is titled “A Journey to the Heart of Apostolic Genius.” There we explore what Hirsch calls Missional DNA. Methodists will recognize the work of Howard Snyder who has used the DNA analogy in the past. For us Canadians who read a lot of Alan Roxburgh, you will recognize the concepts of liminality and "communitas vs. community".

A Starbucks Conversation - John Burke

Ideally, pastors would be cultural anthropologists or experts on the unchurched. Instead, non-Christians often complain that pastors can’t relate to them or their culture. As a pastor,
do you interact with non-Christians on a daily basis? Do you know what the average unchurched person thinks about Jesus, heaven and hell, and Christians in general? What would make him or her willing to explore Christianity? Maybe even at your church?

If you haven’t asked these questions lately, much less gotten answers, you may unknowingly have lost touch with the culture and the very people you’re trying to reach. Get reacquainted with your “target audience,” as you listen in on this casual conversation with Jennifer, 29, Lalit, 33, Sree, 35, Geno, 28, James, 40, and Lars, 34, who share with Gateway Community Church’s Pastor John Burke the insights you need to know to reach them.

Is Evangelism Necessary?

This is the question that Jason Clark poses in this post. He sets the question up by sharing a story about the time when we was on vacation in Hawaii with his wife and they ended up saving a couple from drowning.

Why is Cultural Relevance a Big Deal?

Great post by Ed Stetzer.

The scriptures are relevant to this and every culture. They do not need updating, correcting, or revisioning. On the contrary, what needs revisioning is our understanding and obedience to God's word as we live out His mission in context. When we live a humble orthodoxy and humble missiology, we will be salt and light in contemporary culture—a biblically-faithful, culturally-relevant, counter culture. Here is a brief article I wrote for my friends at Catalyst that might be an encouragement:

Interview with Bob Roberts

This is a great interview of Bob Roberts by the people with Out of Ur. The interview is titled "We Aren't About Weekends." Northwood Church, where Roberts pastors, has made some intentional decisions on what they are and, more importantly, what they aren't, going to be about.

What are we going to be about?

This post comes from a missional community in Florida. I've been deeply influenced by what they've written (primarily this post). There's some good language here.

Small Missional Community or Mega Church - which is harder?

I came across this David Fitch post on why starting a missional community from scratch is more difficult than starting a "potential" mega church when you have a large core to begin with.